Regional realtor expects slow recovery in property market

The overall property market will recover slowly in 2023 even with the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions in this part of the world, a regional realtor has forecast.

“Economic activities should resume in an orderly manner, which will be beneficial to the recovery of the tourism and gambling trades in Macau,” Centaline Property’s Macau and Hengqin sector has said in the statement.

However, it added, improvements in market confidence will only be revealed after the publication of actual economic data or a change in real property policies is seen. The realtor expects improvements to only be seen as early as the second quarter of the year.

Forecasting the future of Hengqin, the realtor expects the property market will gradually grow with a continued supply of new projects.

The realtor said the number of residential property transactions fell in 2022. On average, there were only about 300 transactions each month in the first nine months, with the June 18 outbreak impacting the market most.

In October, there was a full-building transaction – the realtor described as rare – which lifted the figure to 400 transactions in that month. The following two months ran low on number of transactions.

Nonetheless, 33 residential properties in the city sold above MOP20 million in 2022.

Last year saw 50% fewer transactions than the previous year, the realtor estimated.

The realtor said the city’s residential property prices reached a low, with an average of MOP6,178 per square foot.

The markets for both offices and industrial units was also slow last year. The office market was hit hard by the dissolution of casino intermediaries, the realtor added.